Interview Funeral For A Friend

Interview by Steve Tauschke January 2009

And while their stratospheric trajectory shows few sings of tailing off, the Bridgend metal-core masters recently found themselves adapting to various developments both within and outside their control.

This time last year Funeral For A Friend parted ways with their major label Atlantic whose contractual slice of the band’s hard-earned touring and merchandising revenue prompted the split and led to the formation their own imprint, Join Us.

“We really depend on those streams of income to be able to let us tour so that deal was something that didn’t really work for us,” says drummer Ryan Richards.
“And when you consider that your manager also gets 20% and your booking agent gets 15% then you start to get left with not so much for your efforts.”

Join Us now oversees FFAF’s releases in the UK while Victory Records handles their output in the US and Canada and Roadrunner in all other territories. “It just got to the point where the industry had changed so much,” adds Richards. “What the major labels expect you to give them outweighs what they’re prepared to give you.”

The move coincided with the amicable departure of long-time bassist Gareth Davies, who is now involved in artist management. “The touring game is not for everyone,” says Richards. “People see it as the ultimate dream to be in a touring band and while it is great and I wouldn’t wish to do anything else there are a lot of difficulties that come with it especially if you’re married and have children.”

According to Richards, Davies eventually fell victim to the tyranny of distance having based himself and his wife in the America in recent years while the band remained rooted in Wales.

“He just never got to be home with his family and it’s something that really started to take its toll,” he says. “I think it prevented him from enjoying the great aspects of being in a band. It was always very bitter-sweet for him so he had to make that decision which I know was very hard.”

Davies’ replacement is bassist Gavin Burrough, who shared previous groups with Richards. “It’s been pretty seamless really – he’s jumped right on in there.”

The addition of Burrough came just after last October’s release of the band’s fourth album Memory And Humanity, a direct channelling of their hardcore roots into consumable widescreen rock epics. And unlike much of the band’s back catalogue, written mostly on the run, Richards says the record was tracked at a leisurely pace in his Bridgend home overlooking a picturesque Welsh valley outside Cardiff.

“It was great to spend a couple of weeks in my front room where you could look out the window over the valley or go outside and crack open a beer anytime you wanted to chill out,” he says. “It was good for the creativity and really helped things move along at a nice pace. We didn’t lock ourselves away and drive each other crazy all night.”

Originally slated as an EP, Memory And Humanity was borne out of a surprisingly fruitful song writing session that extended the four-tracker to a full-blown album – and provided a quick follow up to 2007’s Tales Don’t Tell Themselves.

“We’d just left our label at Atlantic and wanted to get some songs out there quickly so people could hear what we were up to,” explains Richards. “The plan was to start writing in January and record four songs in February but by then we had eight or nine songs that we felt really strongly about and wanted to use.

“So we thought we may as well keep on writing. It was great really because the previous record took a long time to write and record. But with this we were our own masters being on our own label and it was a lot easier - and there was a lot less pressure.”

Links

Funeral For A Friend on Myspace
FFAF offical website

lyrics

Funeral For A Friend Lyrics